“The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership
Adam Bryant
Harvard Business Review Press (July 2023)

“If you think the frying pan is too hot, try the fire.” Maude Frickert

In recent years, Adam Bryant has made numerous and substantial contributions to knowledge leadership with his interviews of business leaders featured in The New York Times and on LinkedIn as well as his previously published books, notably The CEO Test: Master the Challenges That Make or Break All Leaders.

All organizations need effective leadership at all levels and in all areas in the given enterprise. Most of those who provide it do not have a title but are respected and trusted because of the example they set, the skills and knowledge they possess, and the value they create.  Not all of them aspire to have a formal title. Not all of those who have that ambition have — or can develop — whatever is needed to succeed in a leadership position. I think of leaders as “gardeners” who “grow” those entrusted to their care. Success in gardening requires an environment for growth as well as what will be grown as well as the tools, techniques, and temperament provided by those to whom the garden is entrusted to their care.

According to Bryant, leadership “means thinking about what you can do for people, rather than what they can do for you. It’s about building other leaders, not just followers.” This is precisely what Robert Greenleaf has in mind when suggesting in one of his essays, first published in 1970: “The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”

As Bryant explains in the first chapter, there are countless ways that people experience the leap to leader, “a jump that has little to do with your title and everything to do with your mindset. It is a realization that you are fully accountable, that you must grapple with the hardest decisions, and that you need to let go of doing the work that earned you promotion after promotion earlier in your career.”

Some of the most valuable material is provided within Bryant’s seven “Leader Profiles”:

o Marcus Kennedy (Intel) on making the most difficult decisions: “The hardest part is making tough choices that have real impact on Employees.”

o Molly McKenna (McDonald’s) on memorable leaders: “A leader is someone who people remember and talk about ten years from now.”

o Marc Lacey (The New York Times) on treating everyone with respect every day: “You build up goodwill by treating everybody decently day in and day out.”

o Kristina Lund (AES Indiana and AES Ohio) on appreciating the hard work of team members: “Your team members want to be recognized for their hard work.”

o Gregory Bryant (Analog Devices) on being someone everyone wants to work with: “People need to want to work with you, and to work with each other.”

o Balaji Krishnamurthy (Chevron) on creating an environment in which teams can answer questions and solve problems: “It’s important that you create an environment where people can find the right answers.”

o Mary Elizabeth Porray (EY) on seeking new challenges when feeling comfortable: “As soon as you feel comfortable. you need to move to a new role.”

Here’s my take on the relative functions of leaders and managers. In general, managers implement decisions made by leaders; leaders are remembered because of their sometimes charismatic impact whereas managers are remembered for their efficiency; leaders recognize and commend the contributions of those for whom they are responsible; effective leaders attract followers whereas effective managers are appreciated as valuable colleagues; leaders create a wholesome workplace environment whereas managers enrich it with competence; leaders are restless dreamers whereas managers help make dreams come true. There are times when a manager seems to help keep the promises that a leader make

Bryant announces in the first chapter that the goal of his book “is to provide an intensely practical guide to making that transition [from being led to leading others] by sharing insights, stories, and approaches from hundreds of leaders to build the skills you will need to make the leap to leader — starting with proving yourself as a manager, then advancing to more senior roles to increase your impact, and finally making the fundamental mindset shifts that are necessary to succeed by understanding how you need to [begin itaics] be [end italics] a leader.”

That is a goal that Adam Bryant achieves with rigor and eloquence. In doing so, he sets a goal for you to achieve. The baton is now in your hands. Do you REALLY want to lead? As Henry Ford once observed, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t succeed, you’re probably right.”

Here are two concluding suggestions: Highlight key passages, and, keep a lined notebook near at hand while reading The Leap to Leader in which you record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines) and page references as well as your responses to questions posed throughout the narrative and to lessons you have learned. These two simple tactics will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent reviews of key material later.

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Adam Bryant is senior managing director and a partner at the ExCo Group, a leadership development and executive mentoring firm. He has interviewed more than 1,000 CEOs and other senior leaders for his LinkedIn series and for the New York Times “Corner Office” column he created. He has written three previous leadership books, including, The CEO Test: Master the Challenges that Make or Break All Leaders, published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2021. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and leadership offsites, and is the senior adviser to the Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership at Columbia University.